Real Questions with Charli XCX

posted by Nicole Mastrogiannis
-
2 years ago

This year has certainly been a whirlwind for Charli XCX. Between the chart-topping "Fancy" with Iggy Azalea and her hit single "Boom Clap" appearing in one of the movies of the year The Fault in Our Stars, Charli is on fire!

Charli tells iHeartRadio that "Boom Clap" as an "epic love song" and about "celebrating love." She says, "I just feel like not many songs really just like go ahead and fully celebrate love in a completely unashamedly, celebratory way. So, that's what that's about, just going for it, like enjoying being in love, feeling like you're walking on the clouds." She says she was so happy to have the song featured in The Fault in Our Stars. "I really felt like that movie is celebrating this kind of epic love tale as well. It really fits so well with the two characters in that movie's story and also, the film is really good! I cried. I saw it twice and both times I cried like a b*tch."

On working with Iggy Azalea on "Fancy," Charli says "So cool. She's just so inspirational and so talented and so real. She has a hard time sometimes I think. And I don't think she deserves it. You know, everything comes from her and she has some really genius ideas. Like the Clueless video ["Fancy"], that was 100% her idea." Charli continues, "Every show that we did, every outfit that we wore was like planned. It all came from her brain, and not like a stylist or a manager. It was her. It was what she wanted to do, and I really admire artists like that who take everything really seriously and pay attention to detail. Because I find the visual side sometimes even more interesting in music, you know. She's just great. It's cool that she had me so involved in 'Fancy.'"

Despite all of her success this year, it looks like things are only just heating up for Charli XCX. She released her album True Romance just last year, and she's already working on a new one! She tells iHeartradio, "It's gonna be out in the fall. It's a pop record but it definitely has like punk elements to it. It's raw and it's wild and it's very feminine. And yeah, it's kinda punk."

Charli is also getting ready to head out on a massive headlining North American Tour! "I'm so excited. My favorite place to perform is America." She continues, "The show is gonna be awesome, and I'm planning so many special, little things on the side as well. I wanna do like secret punk shows and stuff like that. It's gonna be cool."

Charli XCX stopped by the iHeartRadio headquarters in NYC recently, where she opened up about everything from her weird crushes like Larry David and Fred Armisted to stealing neon hairbands, and so much more.

Check out Real Questions with Charli XCX below.

Do you hate when people call you Charlotte?

Yes. Everyone calls me Charli. So the reason my parents called me Charlotte was because they wanted to call me Charli when I was older. When they did that when I was younger, I'd always be like, "Charli is a boy's name. I wanna be Charlotte. Charlotte's a princess name." And then they got into the habit of calling me Charlotte and then I was like, "Oh, Charlotte's a princess name, I wanna be a boy. I wanna be Charli," so they had to change it back. So now I'm just Charli.

Have you ever stolen anything?

I've stolen one thing but that was when I was younger. I stole a hairband and I was sh***ing my pants. It was not good. But that was a long time ago.

Where did you steal the hairband from?

A shop called New Look, which is a store in the U.K that is never gonna let me back in there now that this has publicly been announced. Or maybe they'll be like, "Hey, come and steal from us all the time!" It was like a one-time thing and I was really … My friend made me. I was maybe like 14. It was like a peer pressure situation. I felt terrible about it afterwards and they were like neon hairbands and they were gross, and I wished I'd picked something better to steal if I was only going to do it once to be honest.

When was your first kiss?

First kiss I think I was maybe 11 and it was terrible. It was with this boy called Mark who is one of my good friends now. And it was like really toothy. And I remember like he like rang my house the next day and he was like, "Oh yeah, I went to the dentist the other day before we kissed and I got like a filling." I was like, "Oh, did you?" He was like, "Yeah, did you not notice? Did you not feel that far back?" and I was like, "Gross dude. Like I'm not supposed to be feeling your fillings. You're sick."

When is the last time you got drunk on the minibar?

Like a couple of nights ago in my hotel.

What's the drink of choice from the minibar?

Vodka always [is] my go-to. I like also mixing Vodka and Champagne together, that's good, but with an extra … so like you do like Vodka, Champagne, [and] like orange and cranberry, and like a squeeze of lime. It's really good. It gets you like pretty turnt up. But then the next day you're like turned way down. But it's fun.

What were you made fun of or teased for as a kid?

I had like really really curly hair when I was younger. And people always used to tease me for that. Whenever we played Spice Girls in the playground, they always called me Scary Spice and I got really upset about it 'cause I didn't wanna be Scary. I wanted to be Baby.

Did you ever see the Spice Girls in concert?

Yes, I saw them just after Geri left, which sucked 'cause like, it was really sad but then I saw them like when they re-formed. And then I did a photoshoot for V Magazine and I was on the cover, and for the cover piece they … we got to pick who interviewed us and I picked Geri Halliwell. So I went to her house and I was like, "You left. You bailed on me.. Like I was gonna see you live and you left," and she was like, "I'm sorry." Thought that was kinda cool.

What's the most shameful thing you ever spent money on?

Well this isn't so much shameful. More it's weird I guess, but I really needed a pink bass guitar for some TV I was doing recently. And Fender was gonna give us one but the lacquer of that certain color takes like four weeks to dry, and I really needed it like right this second. So I went online and I found literally there was only one pink bass on eBay in the color I wanted. And it was the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe, Blink 182 signed base. So I bought that and I am not at all a Blink 182 fan, and now I have a Blink 182 signed bass. I mean I like Blink 182, like I went through a phase but I'm not, I'm not like … I didn't need to buy the signed bass. But I have it and their signature is so crap[py]. Because I think it's just like "Toooooom." So yeah, I got that which was kinda funny.

What did you buy with your first paycheck?

I think I probably bought some shoes or something like that. I think I went to like Harvey Nichols in the U.K. and I was like, "Wow! I'm gonna buy some fancy shoes." I bought like three pairs of expensive shoes and I was just like, "Aah!" And my mum was like, "Oh my God! You're gonna squander all your money. Don't do it." I was like, "No mum, I just don't have any good shoes." So she got really freaked out and now she tries to wear them all the time. I'm like, "You can't wear them. You didn't approve of me buying them!"

Did you have any jobs before you got into music?

Well, I started doing music when I was 14, so I didn't have like a proper full-time job or anything but I remember work experience ... when I was at school and I was working at a kids' nursery. Or not nursery, like they're like four or five years old. But I got fired because before lunch, before they all went into the lunch room, I got caught stealing the biscuits [cookies] from the stash. And then they fired me, they were like, "You've just been stealing the kids' snacks." So I was like, "Okay, peace. I'm going." That was it.

Who is the weirdest person you've had a crush on?

I only really have crushes on weird people. Like weird is my thing. Larry David is one. Big crush on Larry David. Like seriously crush. This guy called Bill Nighy, and it's NOT Bill Nye The Science Guy because everyone is like, "You mean Bill Nye the science guy?" I'm like, "No, it's like this British actor and he's like 50 and he's just great." And Fred Armisen. HOT. And I played on Seth Myers' show the other night and my band all met him and I didn't, and I was so bummed out. I was like, "Damn, he's such a hottie!"

Yes. Some of my fans are like so entertaining. And there are a select few that me, my record label Neon Gold, and our friends all know and talk about and we're always on their Twitter. And we're like, "Oh my God! This is what they're doing." So like it's really weird. We're like, "Oh my God! @HELLOMTTHW is doing this," or like, @paige_xcx is doing that." I'm really fascinated by those two in particular. So yeah, I've done that.

Who would be your dream one-night-stand?

There's this dude Connan Mockasin. He's from New Zealand, he's a musician. I think he's pretty cool. All of his music is super like sleazy and sexy so I'd probably go for him for a one-night-stand.

What is the longest you've gone without taking a shower?

Maybe like four days or something, but it was a festival. It wasn't like a choice. Obviously I enjoy showering, but I think it was like when I was going to a festival as like a [festival-goer], not as like an artist. I was like doing the festival thing. I think it was Reading Festival, when it was maybe like 2009, something like that.

I kind of admit to liking everyone. Like, all the things that people say are guilty pleasures, I actually think are really cool. Like Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, the Spice Girls, like I actually think all of their music is genius and amazing. So I don't really have like a guilty pleasure thing. I like all the guilty pleasure s**t. That's all my favorite s**t.

Do you have any guilty pleasures that aren't music?

Yeah. Okay, "The Hills." I'm kinda obsessed with Heidi Montag. Like she is like a next level human being and I would love to pick her brain for hours. I just think she's fascinating.

Who is the most famous person you have in your phone?

I think I have Ed Sheeran's number in my phone.

Did you ever get detention in school?

Yes. I was in detention, not like loads, but there were a few occasions. And it was for like just dumb stuff. You know, like I never did anything bad, bad. Like I was just always late. And I think I remember we were in like chemistry or something and there was some incident with like a fire and books on fire, that kind of stuff, you know. And me and my friends, like we always used to skip swimming and we used to just like … we had like lockers and we used to get in our lockers and shut the door. So [we would] just hide in there until swimming was over. We got detention for that. I'm like, the worst swimmer ever.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

I was supporting Paramore on tour, and we played at Wembley Arena and I ran on stage. I was like, "Oh my God! This is epic. I'm playing at Wembley. It's such an iconic venue." I was like, "What's up I'm Charli XCX" and then I was trying to jump onto the speaker stack that was away from the stage, and I fell in the gap between the speakers on the stage, and I got stuck. And I tried to like style it out and make it into like this punk move and then my leg … I was wearing massive platforms, my shoes was just stuck and I was just like rolling around on the floor like, "Oh my God, I fell over at Wembley!" I had a huge cut up my leg. So that was pretty embarrassing.

What is your pet peeve?

I quite like personal space. You know when you're like having a conversation with someone and they're like … And then you go back and they'll [step forward]. I'm always a bit like, "Aaaaaaaah." Yeah, because it's like you think that if you move away then they take the hint. That's kind of annoying sometimes.

What's the weirdest thing you've eaten?

I have very bland taste buds if I'm honest. Like I'm a girl with very simple taste. I like pizza and I like burgers and I like Mexican food. But I remember the first time I had like proper sushi when I went to L.A for the first time when I was like 16. And I had eel and I was like, "Oh my God, what is this?!" And so I freaked out. That was like very exotic for me at that time in my life. I don't f**k with eels.

What's the most awkward fan interaction you've had?

I have this one fan who is awesome. She's like my favorite fan. She's just next level, she's super cool. But I remember one time she managed to find out where we were having like an after-show party, and my parents were there and my aunt was there. And she got pictures with all of them, and my mum was like so freaked out. My mum was like, "I don't understand." And then she was like tweeting about how I was like … she was their daughter and stuff. And my mum was like really freaked by it, and kind of like, "This isn't my child!" But she's really sweet. She's one of my favorite fans so it was cool.